Counterfeit
by GingerbreadTARDIS99
Summary: After an accident in Prof. Von Slickstien's lab, clones of Penny are spawning left and right. It's up to Gadget to figure out what's wrong, and find his niece in an endless sea of fakes. (prior to the 80's cartoon)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, fellow readers! :)**

 **Now before any of you ask in the reviews or private messaging, no, AMoHO is not abandoned. It's just on hiatus, due to other stuff I'm working on and real life stuff. I'll get back to it soon. As for this fic, this is something I'm doing just for fun. The chances of me updating on this a lot is very unlikely, so don't be checking up on it every chance you get (then again, that goes for all of my other fics. ^^').**

 **This was requested by retro mania, so I hope what I have interests you dude!**

 **Enjoy!**

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Wet. Wet, and a little bit slimy. Maybe fuzzy as well, but it was hard to tell for sure. All of this was the perfect combination of one thing: Daily morning puppy kisses.

"Ahh! No Brain! Stop it! Hee hee!" The young blonde-haired girl attempted to push away the orange pup with little to no success. Smiles and giggles filled the room with warm sunlight, brightening the furniture in tints of yellow. The kisses eventually ceased, but they were immediately followed by tight child hugs.

"You silly puppy!" A tiny sigh Brain's lips and the girl loosened her grip, sliding off her bed soon afterwards. Bare feet and wiggly toes met fuzzy blue rug, and rapid patter patters met cold wood flooring. The squeaky door unleashed the surprisingly hyper five-year-old, and the timid yet equally hyper canine.

Down the stairs the two little balls of energy tumbled, and came to a stretching halt into the kitchen. Besides the two of them, it was completely vacant. Usually, the kitchen was breathing with the smells of breakfast, and the whistling of her hero. But that wasn't the case today. Maybe he was still in his bed sleeping. After all, he did come home late last night from a very important mission. Usually when that happens, he becomes very tired. It wouldn't be wise to wake him up for breakfast when she knew how to make cold cereal and maybe toast.

"Come on, Brain. Let's have Coco Puffs for breakfast." Brain grinned from ear to ear, licking his lips while doing so. Upon opening up the cabinet door, they were not met with the orange coo-coo bird. Instead, an evil smiling sun stared into their souls while holding his nightmarish bowl of Raisin Brand. A bleck erupted in the room, and the cabinet door slammed shut. The only other option available was toast, but there was a teensy weensy little problem: she didn't know how to work the toaster properly. But that wasn't going to stop her from figuring it out.

The young girl whipped out the toaster while the puppy fetched the bread loaf from the bread box. Together, they plugged in the device, placed the slice inside, and pushed down on the lever. Anxious eyes watched the toaster as time seemed to stand still. Out of impatience, she began to whack the toaster with a wooden spoon, shortly followed by erupting black smoke. Brain hid under the table in fear, as the girl desperately attempted to unplug the toaster. Her efforts were in vain however, as the loud beeping of the fire alarm broke the morning silence.

At first, a muffled panicked scream could be heard upstairs, followed by a thud of a person falling out of a bed. Afterwards, frantic thumping trailed down the stairs and into the source of the alarm. Standing in the doorway was a lanky, confused man. His wild jet black hair looked even crazier than usual. Mechanical yellow hands were emerged from the zany bush, grasping at the wall for support. His wide eyes darted back and forth. His attire consisted of a t-shirt with a Canadian team logo on the front, and boxers with hamburger designs. Roller skate wheels seemed to be fused to the soles of feet, and were causing his legs to go all over the place. Overall, he gave an immature impression. Well, maybe everything except of the look on his face. The worried expression quickly morphed into a scolding stare. The young girl gave a weak smile, and a nervous giggle.

"Good morning, Uncle Gadget."

000

Breakfast was uneventful after Uncle Gadget stopped the smoke from rising out of the toaster. Apologies were spoken, hugs were given, and pancakes were served. Once all of the sticky syrup was licked clean from the plates, Penny rushed up to her bedroom to get dressed for the day. She decided to wear her yellow overalls, with a white t-shirt, and her stripy socks. Afterwards, she brushed her teeth with her sparkly toothbrush, and combed her bright blonde hair, which hung right below the shoulders. Penny looked at herself in the mirror, pleased with how she looked.

It wasn't long before the sound of squealing little girls and barking puppies echoed through the overall quiet neighborhood. Activities mostly included running around the house, playing hide-and-seek, and failing to catch any robins. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be long until Little Miss Whinny McWhinster came riding by on her bicycle with her nanny. Hard not to notice really, since the horrible racket the training wheels made could be heard blocks away

In all honesty, Penny wouldn't have a problem with Whinny, except she continually tried to prove she was smarter than her. Uncle Gadget said it was because she was jealous, so Penny tried not to "add fuel to the fire", as some would say.

"Hey, Penny!" her voice was annoying and high-pitched. Even Brain covered his ears in discomfort. It took every muscle in Penny's face to manage a believable smile.

"Hi, Wh-Julie!" she had to be more careful about saying that secret nickname around her.

"Guess what I can do!"

"What can you do, Julie?"

"I can count all the way to forty!"

"That's nice, Julie!"

"All of the other kids can only count to twenty!"

"Great!" Penny's smile faltered. She almost couldn't stand Whinny's boasting and downgrading on the other kids.

"How high can you count, Penny?" There she went again, taunting Penny to give a justifying answer. She so badly wanted to tell her the brutal truth and say four thousand, but she knew that would only bring a siren of pouts and whines.

"Twenty-four," Penny said instead. A smirk grew on Whinny's face. Normally, she would give a mocking jingle on how she was the best, but it seemed that Penny's response was satisfying enough. Whinny rode off with her ever-so-passive nanny, continuing the racket down the street.

It took everything in Penny to not scream out that she could ride her bike with only two wheels.

Brain patted her on the back, rewarding her for her patience, kindness, and self-control. A genuine smile returned on the young girl's face. Out of nowhere, Uncle Gadget called from the house, holding the gadget phone in his right mechanical hand. The neighborhood was more than thankful that he was wearing his usual trench coat and fedora.

"Penny! I just got a call from Prof. Von Slickstien! He wants me to come to the lab to check out something of his! Would you like to come along?"

If the human smile could grow to be a mile long, Penny's certainly would at that moment.

"OH WOULD I!" In a lightning bolt flash, both child and dog ended up in the back seat of the cop car, seatbelts buckled. Uncle Gadget could only chuckle from their excitement.

000

Wondrous eyes watched the mesmerizing motion of the chemicals hopping through the vials and tubes. Whirring and beeping of robotics brought the room to life. Colors of green and purple gave off an imaginable atmosphere. The perfect picture of the paradise only a young girl like Penny could enjoy.

"I see you've been quite busy lately," Uncle Gadget remarked, glancing around and narrowing missing a dormant robot arm.

"Oh yes," replied the professor. "I've been conducting a lot of experiments for this new project of mine. Fortunately, Dr. Jindal has helped me greatly over the past few weeks." The mentioned apprentice was standing with the two men, his eyes locked on Penny and Brain. "And speaking of projects, do you mind coming with me for a moment? Jindal can keep an eye on Miss Penny and… what is your pet's name again?"

"His name is Brain," Penny spoke up, matter-of-factly.

"Brain. Yes, sorry. Hard for me to remember names." Brain didn't seem to care though. He was a very understanding puppy.

"Now you be good for Dr. Jindal, alright Penny?"

"I promise, Uncle Gadget." And with that, inspector and professor left the room, leaving the only one who wasn't all that fond with children in the room with a five-year-old and her anthropomorphic puppy dog-thingy.

"Don't touch anything!" the apprentice snapped the moment all three were left alone. The suddenness of the harsh voice made Brain jump and hide behind Penny. As for the young girl, her eyebrows narrowed ever so slightly.

This wasn't going to fly with her at all.


	2. Chapter 2

**My apologies for the long wait for anyone checking for uploads. Like I said, updates are rather sporadic for me. Anyways, I told retro mania that I would have something out by this weekend, and this is what I have. If any of you have noticed the chapter title, don't worry. I'll have part two out soon (I will go insane if I don't.) This chapter will be updated in full once I do, because the idea of splitting it into two different "chapters" just makes me cringe thinking about it. (EDIT: This is now one full chapter. The content I wanted to add seemed to flow better as its own chapter.)**

 **Special thanks to Stars r fallin for reviewing, and retro mania for favoriting and following. :)**

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"Can't I at least look?" Penny _did_ promise Uncle Gadget that she would be good to Dr. Jindal. It wouldn't be fair if she didn't at least give him a chance to at least be nice. The apprentice glared at first at the young girl, but eventually gave off a weary sigh, and a muffled "yes". Penny squeed with glee, and began running to the nearest invention. Before she could even get a chance to even glance at it, Dr. Jindal snatched her arm and pulled her away rather harshly.

"I said you could _look_. I said nothing about _running_." Once he released his grip, Penny rubbed her arm and _walked_ to the invention. Brain quickly caught up with her, making sure that he wasn't technically running. The invention itself wasn't as impressive as the professor's other creations, but it was impressive nevertheless. It was a metal sphere about half her size, with tubes filled with strange illuminous fluid connected to it, and a hatch on the front. Penny raised an eyebrow, while Brain cocked his head to the side.

"What does this do?" It was a fairly innocent question, but the apprentice's reaction to it almost looked as if she insulted the entire field of science itself.

"You are too dumb to understand even the basics of this device! Why bother explaining it to you?" Penny crossed her arms.

"I bet I'm smart enough to understand!"

"Trust me, little girl. You're not."

"Am too! Uncle Gadget says so!" Dr. Jindal gave off a mocking laugh.

"The inspector told you that? Ha! He can't even tell up from down!" Penny's eyes widen with anger. How dare he insult her uncle like that! Uncle Gadget was the smartest man in the world besides the professor! She began to calculate a way to prove the apprentice her intelligence, when an idea struck. A clever grin grew on her face.

"Do you know what pi is?" Dr. Jindal looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Of course I do! It's three point one four!"

"Actually, its' three point one four, one five, nine two, six five, three five, eight nine, seven nine, three two, three eight, four six, two six, four three, three eight, three two, seven nine, five zero, two eight, eight four, one nine, seven one, six nine, three nine, nine three, seven five, one zero, five eight, two zero, nine seven, four nine, four four, five nine, two three, zero seven, eight one, six four, zero six, two eight, six two, zero eight, nine nine, eight six, two eight, zero three, four eight, two five, three four, two one, one seven, zero six, seven nine, eight two, one four,…" She stopped to make sure Dr. Jindal was still paying attention. The only expression he gave off was one of shock and surprise. "There are approximately one million more digits if you want me to say all of them."

"Well I don't!" he snapped back rather quickly. "I have more important things to do at the moment, so go do… geometry problems or something! I don't care! Just stay out of my hair!" And with that, the apprentice marched away, muttering something about the American school system. At last! They were free to explore the lab!

"Come on, Brain!" Penny whispered to Brain, and the two of them _ran_ to the next invention, and the next. Each device was more intriguing than the last, filling the young girl's mind with ideas, and the timid puppy with curiosity. Eventually, they came across one machine that Penny could not turn away from. There was nothing spectacular about it, really. In fact, Penny was beginning to question if it was an invention at all! Sure, it had wires connected to it, but it was nothing more than a metal box with an old shower curtain. Penny used all of her willpower to not go inside, but it wasn't strong enough. She just had to know! Making sure Dr. Jindal wasn't around, Penny quickly stepped inside. The interior was more pleasing to the scientific mind than the exterior. Green little lights faintly lit up the box, while a strange purple screen glowed on the wall just out of arms' reach.

Numerous different ideas and theories were forming in her head as to what this machine was capable of. What it some kind of special shower? Did it create robots? Maybe it was a time traveling machine! She could go into the future, and drive in a flying car with Brain and Uncle Gadget! Oh that would be a lot of fun! Filled with excitement, Penny poked her head out of the curtain to an uncertain Brain.

"Brain!" she whispered loudly. "Get inside! We're going to the future!" His response to this was not what Penny expected. Instead of joining her, he shook his head and scooched an inch or two away. "Oh, alright. You don't have to come along. I'll make sure to get you a chew toy or something. Ah! I almost forgot! Don't forget to tell Uncle Gadget where I went, okay?" Brain gave a whispered yip, and saluted the young girl.

Now all that was left to do was figure out how to turn it on. Problem was, there wasn't anything indicating that it was an on/off switch. Nothing, that is, except for the screen. Perhaps it was touch activated? Deciding to at least give it a try, Penny gave a small hop, and smacked the screen as if she was giving a high five.

Everything went horribly wrong. All the lights inside turned into a harsh red. An eerie siren moaned loudly. Steam rose from the floor. In panic, Penny ran out of the box.

"RUN, BRAIN!" The puppy didn't need to be told twice. The two ran as fast as their little legs would allow. Not long after they saw a very unhappy Dr. Jindal, they felt a hot flash of heat from behind. Both were too afraid to look, but they had an idea of what caused it.

Uncle Gadget wasn't going to like this.

As if on cue, Prof. Von Slickstien and Uncle Gadget burst into the room, seeing what all of the commotion was about. Uncle Gadget immediately went to work taking care of whatever remained of the explosion, while the professor and his assistant began yelling at each other in a language Penny couldn't understand. It was all very overwhelming. Both girl and puppy held onto each other.

"Um, Prof. Von Slickstien? I hate to interrupt, but I think you should see this." The two scientists stopped their bickering, and went to see what Uncle Gadget had found. Penny turned around to see what it was, but the three men blocked her view from where she stood. A second or so went by before the professor screamed.

"Is it dead?" asked Dr. Jindal.

"Who cares?!" Penny had never heard Prof. Von Slickstien sound so frantic before. "You let Miss Penny in the cloning booth! I thought I told you that the prototype is extremely dangerous!"

"Let me get this straight! You allowed _my niece_ of all people to go near a HIGHLY DANGEROUS PIECE OF SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT?!"

"No! I didn't even know she found the prototype!" Dr. Jindal's face immediately went pale the moment those words came out of his mouth. If Uncle Gadget and the professor weren't angry before, they certainly were now. As Prof. Von Slickstien yelled at his assistant for not looking after Penny, Uncle Gadget turned to face his niece, eyes enraged. He didn't say anything to her, but he did motion her with his finger to come over. Penny gave a tiny gulp, and slowly walked over to her uncle. Once she approached him, he went down on one knee, their heights close in range.

"I thought I told you to be good to Dr. Jindal while I was with Prof. Von Slickstien," Uncle Gadget spoke, his voice quiet and calm.

"I was," Penny replied.

"Then how come Dr. Jindal didn't know where you were?"

"He let me and Brain explore the lab without him." Uncle Gadget's only response to this was a frustrated sigh, followed by eye duct-rubbing.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"No…?"

"YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF!" She flinched, not familiar with this kind of behavior from her uncle. "THIS ISN'T A PLAYGROUND FOR YOU TO PLAY AROUND IN, PENNY! THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY FILLED WITH – " He stopped yelling, and exhaled in a frustrated manner.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Gadget." No reply.

A moan broke out, breaking the tension in the room. Everyone turned to see who, or what caused it. Among the rubble, their laid a young girl, possibly no older than five. She was covered head to toe with soot and dust, but one could see her white shirt, yellow overalls and –

Wait.

"She's alive?!" Prof. Von Slickstien ran toward the girl, lifting her from the rubble, and parting her shoulder-length blonde hair from her face. Penny could only gasp in response.

It was her.

The clone moaned again before opening her blue eyes. She scanned the room in confusion, as if she was struggling to remember something.

"What happened? Where am I?" She sounded exactly like Penny too.

"You're in my laboratory," Prof. Von Slickstien explained. "As for you my dear, you're a clone."

"A clone?"

"Yes. Hers, to be exact." The professor pointed to Penny, who quickly hid behind her uncle. "Now, my dear, are you hurt?"

"No, I think my bodily functions are fine." The clone stood up on her feet, and walked toward Penny and Uncle Gadget. "And who are you, strange man?"

"I'm Inspector Gadget, Penny's uncle."

"'Penny'?" the clone looked around Uncle Gadget to catch a better glimpse at her original. "What a lovely name!"

Penny didn't like the way she said "lovely".


	3. Chapter 3

**Time to answer some reviews!**

 **To Titus Genuicus: I'm glad you enjoy this fanfic! Yeah, Penny can be a bit too imaginative for her own good (and perhaps delusional when it comes to her uncle's wits.); but she is only five when this story takes place, so such fantasy is to be expected. But, rest assured, the love she has for Gadget is no fairy tale. :)**

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The drive back home was completely silent, apart from the never-ending noise the streets naturally made. Penny sat in the middle between her look-alike and puppy. Because of the explosion, Prof. Von Slickstien explained the lab was no longer "child-proof", meaning the clone couldn't stay there. Since the professor practically lived in his own laboratory, and Dr. Jindal wasn't going to do any science-y stuff anytime soon, she had to stay at Penny's house. Penny, of course, didn't like this at all, but there was not much she could do.

"It won't be so bad," Uncle Gadget tried to convince her. "Think of it this way: at least you'll have someone to play with when Brain won't come out of his hiding spot." But Penny didn't want to play with herself. Where's the fun in that? She would rather be bored out of her mind! Nevertheless, she gave in anyways. At the end of the day, she couldn't leave someone with nowhere to go, even if it was herself in a way.

Of course, sitting in the back seat next to one's copy brings the perfect opportunity to a little bit of scientific investigation. Just _how_ alike was this clone? Were there any flaws that needed to be found? With little to no thought, Penny began examining the other's hair, just to see if it was really did stop right below the shoulders. The clone shot a few confused looks at her at first, but then began investigating on her own. They then moved on to their faces, arms, and shirts. They were examining each other's bellies when they found their ticklish spots. Both began to giggle uncontrollably, and decided anonymously to find flaws in their laughs. A tickle war had begun.

"Girls! Please! Sit quietly! I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Yes, Uncle Gadget."

"Understood, inspector."

The car remained quiet until they arrived home.

000

The rest of the day's events were rather normal, considering the circumstances. Uncle Gadget had told the girls that they weren't allowed to go outside at the same time, afraid that the neighbors would call the authorities and take the clone away to "who knows where". The clone herself started to remember the house, and major events that took place in it. This made Penny feel very uneasy. Even Uncle Gadget was a bit surprised. The copy, however, couldn't seem to remember the little things, such as the crack in the living room ceiling, or the wonky top step (they lost count of how many times she tripped or fell. ). She didn't seem to care though; at one point, she told Penny that "such details are insignificant". This made the young girl concerned.

Everything else was the same as always: lunch, nap, play, supper, movie, and bed. Tomorrow, on the other hand, was going to be a completely different story. Uncle Gadget had to go to work in the morning, and that meant he would be gone all day. Since Penny was only a little girl, a baby sitter usually came to watch her (unless she had Kindergarten, then she would stay at a friend's house until her uncle picked her up.). How was Uncle Gadget going to explain _two_ Pennies to her baby sitter? Oh well. He would think of something. Uncle Gadget always had a solution to a problem. There was still another question that was still nagging at her. She just had to ask it.

"What's your name?" The whispered question cut through the dark room, illuminated by the glow-in-the-dark stars that stuck to the ceiling. Penny made sure it looked as much as the actual night sky as possible, even though she made the Big Bear too big, and she was missing Orion and the girl with the ball and chain. The clone, who slept in a sleeping bag in the middle of the room, was silent for a moment.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I want to know. Is it my name? Or is it something completely different? Do you even have a name?"

"It matters not if I have a name. Now go to sleep." But Penny couldn't. She needed to know.

"It's a simple question, really. Do you have a name, yes or no?"

"No! Now shush!" Satisfied with her answer, Penny closed her eyes to fall asleep. However, a new question started to keep her up.

"If you did have a name, what would it be?" No response. "I could call you Penny 2! Oh! I know! How about Clone!" Incomprehensible muttering could be heard from the floor.

"Are you going to keep this up all night?"

"Until I find a name that suits you." A long moment of silence followed.

"Adelphie."

"Huh?"

"My name is Adelphie. Now please. Go to sleep." Adelphie. A rather odd choice, but at least it was something. Rolling onto her side, Penny closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Well, she would have, if Adelphie didn't start screaming.

Surprised, Penny shot up until she was sitting up straight. It was hard to see, but she could make out Adelphie wriggling in her sleeping bag, clawing at her belly. In the mist of… whatever it was she was doing, Adelphie managed to wiggle herself out of her bedding. That's when Penny saw it: right in the middle of Adelphie's belly, a hand, complete with a wrist and half of a forearm, was grasping at the air. Penny immediately hid under her sheets.

"UNCLE GADGET!" She didn't know what to do. What could she do?! Her clone was growing another arm from her belly! Normal people didn't grow arms from their bellies! All of a sudden, Penny could hear her bedroom door slam open.

"What going – OH MY GOODNESS! PENNY'S CLONE!"

"Her name's Adelphie, Uncle Gadget!" He didn't respond to Penny's correction. In fact, Penny wasn't sure what her uncle was doing. She so badly wanted to peek from her sheets, but was too afraid to. As long as Adelphie was still screaming, Penny was going to remain hidden. After what felt like an eternity, it finally stopped. Ever so carefully, Penny lowered her sheets to see what happened.

Sitting in the middle of the room was Uncle Gadget, with Adelphie holding on to him tightly. He, in return, rubbed her back, just like he would to Penny whenever she had a nightmare. He was looking at Adelphie rather strangely though. It was almost like he was afraid of her. Slowly, Penny slipped off her bed and approached her uncle and clone.

"Is Adelphie okay, Uncle Gadget?" she asked in a quiet, careful tone.

"Um… yes. I think so. Although… why don't you ask her yourself?" Although she felt sorry for her, Penny did not want to ask Adelphie about her well-being. But she did so anyway. She tapped her shoulder, and the clone turned to look at her. Her face was pale, and her pupils were no more than tiny specks.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"I'm right here," said a voice in the far edge of the room.

Penny turned to see the source of the voice. Sure enough, there was her living reflection, covered in sweat and holding onto her belly as if she was about to throw up. Ever so slowly, Penny looked back at the mystery girl that held on to her uncle for dear life.

"She's another clone," Uncle Gadget tried to explain. "She… kind of crawled out of Adelphie… I guess."

"But why?"

"I don't know."

"So I'm going to keep having clones for the rest of my life?!"

"No, Penny. I'm sure there's a limit."

"What if there isn't?" Uncle Gadget didn't quite know how to answer that question.

"Listen. It's been a long night. I have work tomorrow, and I need to figure out this baby sitter problem of ours." He pointed two fingers at Penny and Adelphie. "You two, go back to bed. This one will be staying in my room."

"Why?"

"Because she's a bit clingy, that's why. Now good night, both of you." And with that, Uncle Gadget left the room, carrying the new clone in his arms.

Penny suddenly wished she had a puppy to hold.

"My, isn't the inspector quite the comforter," Adelphie remarked. "I especially enjoyed the part when he hugged you tightly and said everything was going to be alright." Penny said nothing, confused that her clone recalled these events despite them never happening.

000

Nothing eventful happened until the next morning, when Uncle Gadget found two clones in his bed instead of one. According to one, the other had "crawled out of her" later in the night. Since no one woke up, Penny reasoned that it might have not been as painful for the copy as it was for Adelphie. Speaking of the clones, they were… odd, to say the least. The first seemed to be suffering from an intense case of Pantophobia; she was so scared of her surroundings that she refused to even leave Uncle Gadget's bedroom. She was eventually coasted out, but she scootched wherever she went, her back pinned to the wall at all times. The other was the complete opposite. She wasn't afraid of anything, not even death itself. While Penny envied her bravery at first, she noticed that the clone would do things that weren't very wise. Uncle Gadget made sure all entrances to the garage were locked, for the look-alike's safety. Neither of them seemed to remember anything about the house as well. As far as they were concerned, they were living with a police inspector, a strange human-like puppy, and two girls that looked exactly like them. They didn't care about learning names, so Penny didn't even bother trying to name them. Instead, she gave them secret nicknames: Daredevil and Phobia.

The breakfast table was a bit more chaotic than usual; Phobia was too afraid to eat the pancakes given to her, Daredevil attempted to lick the syrup off her knife, and Adelphie suspiciously poked at her food before deciding to eat it (she claimed it was a few seconds uncooked, which was absurd; Uncle Gadget's pancakes were perfect.). Penny, all the while, tried to help her uncle with all the madness that was going on. After what felt like forever, breakfast was finally over. Daredevil ran upstairs out of sight, while Phobia retreated to the wall, avoiding any dust bunnies that crossed her path. Brain also made a surprise appearance, poking his head from around a corner and running to sit next to who he thought was Penny. Adelphie smirked.

"Penny. Adelphie. I need you to listen very carefully." Both girls turned their attention to Uncle Gadget. "I'm going to call the baby sitter to tell her not to come today."

"So you're going to stay here?" Adelphie asked, eyebrow raised. Uncle Gadget shook his head in a weary manner.

"As much as I don't want to, I have to go in today." Penny's eyes widened.

"Then who's going to watch us, Uncle Gadget?!"

"You are, I'm afraid." On any other day, Penny would have been celebrating with joy. But this wasn't any other day. She was in a house with three other selves, and she felt uncomfortable around all of them! Adelphie didn't seem to fond of the idea either.

"Are you nuts?! You can't leave us here! Penny can't take care of two psychos, let alone herself! She's only five!"

"Neither are you, Adelphie, but what choice do I have? I have enough faith in Penny that she won't do anything dangerous."

"Maybe not Penny per se,…" Adelphie didn't finish her sentence, but a loud thud that came from upstairs did it for her. Uncle Gadget groaned with frustration.

"I have to go. Penny, please be good?"

"I will, Uncle Gadget."

"Right." Uncle Gadget got up from his seat at the table, and walked up to Penny, giving her a quick hug. In her ear, he whispered "I won't be long." After that, he dashed through the door, disappearing from sight.

"Inspector has faith in you, huh?" Penny glanced at her look alike. "You must be smart to be trusted to be left at home alone."

"Sure I am! Why, I bet I could build my own computer if I could!" Adelphie looked at Penny rather strangely.

"Oh really. Where are you going to put it?"

"In my backpack, of course!"

"A computer can't fit in your backpack! Let alone this house!" Before Penny had time to explain, she was interrupted by a familiar and annoyed voice from upstairs. Remembering her deadly counterpart, Penny launched herself from her seat, and rocketed up the stairs. It took a couple of seconds, but she eventually found the clone in her room. Actually, there were three standing before the young girl. There was Daredevil, and two others; one was a brunette, and the other had green eyes. Daredevil was standing on top of the dresser, a blanket tied around her neck, with Burnette piggyback riding on her. Green eyes, on the other hand, had thrown all the clothes in the drawers onto the floor, creating one giant pile of t-shirts, pants, socks, and underwear.

Five clones.

Why, oh why did she let her dreams of going to the future get the best of her?


End file.
